Philip Dewhurst
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This article is part of the Nuclear Spin project of Spinwatch. |
Philip Dewhurst is a well-known heavyweight lobbyist, currently senior partner at The College Group, which he joined in October 2009 after three years as head of public relations at Gazprom. [1]
Contents
Background
Dewhurst was British Nuclear Fuels's Group Corporate Affairs Director from April 2001 and Chairman of the Nuclear Industry Association for two years (Dec 2004 until Dec 2006), and a board member for three years.
Ex-President of the Institute of Public Relations. He is a Visiting Fellow of the Media School of Bournemouth University. Before joining BNFL, Philip was UK Chief Executive of Shandwick International.[2]
He has also been chairman of Dewhurst Consulting since 2009. [3]
Spinning nuclear
It is Dewhurst's belief that the nuclear "industry has to do more to spell out the benefits of nuclear". He says the main ways to positively spin the case nuclear for nuclear are the "security of supply, avoiding CO2 emissions and therefore helping in the fight against global warming while supplying safe and reliable energy".[4]
Spreading the message via third parties
Interviewed by PR Week in February 2006, Dewhurst, admitted that BNFL had been using the classsic PR technique of using a third party to push the nuclear message. He said that it had taken considerable effort to persuade the public to reconsider the nuclear option. Said Dewhurst: "five years ago the reputation of nuclear was at an all-time low. MI5 said a terrorist attack on Sellafield with a hijacked aircraft 'could not be prevented', and that destroyed public confidence."
Dewhurst added: "Now we use a company called Strategic Awareness, which uses in-depth research to help us develop our message. We spread that via third-party opinion because the public would be suspicious if we started ramming pro-nuclear messages down their throats".[5]
Affiliations
- Chairman, GPRP Charitable Trust - Guild of Public Relations Practitioners
- BH Live
References
- ↑ Alec Mattinson, Russian firm Gazprom's Philip Dewhurst takes College Hill role, prweek.com, Friday, 23 October 2009, acc 25 June 2012
- ↑ Nuclear Industry Association, website
- ↑ Philip Dewhurst, LinkedIn profile
- ↑ Financial Times, Ask the Expert: Nuclear Energy, October 24, 2005.
- ↑ Alex Black, "Issues Management: How Nuclear Power got its Groove Back", PR Week, March 2, 2006.
